


Empathy

by onepieceofharry



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 18:23:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15078983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onepieceofharry/pseuds/onepieceofharry
Summary: Hanks face falls at the reminder and he sneers, roughly shoving open the door of his shitty car and barking orders for Connor to follow him.Connor obeys.Connor becomes a deviant a lot sooner than canon.





	Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> Me, trying to add much needed lore and, uh, a bit more...idk developed philosophy to detroit become human?
> 
> Starts with missing scenes and then...deviates ;)

Hank purses his lips, delicately placing his burger back in the box and running a hand over his face.

“Why, though?”

Connor blinks at him, tilting his head curiously. "How do you mean, lieutenant?”

There it is again. A quirk. 

Connor’s leaning forward on the table, watching Hank expectantly and Hank has to close his eyes and just breathe for a second because Connor just rubbed his hands together in that newly familiar way he does and it’s tearing Hank up just a little bit. He looks like a young man - a kid - a rookie Hank has to put up with and train and try not to get killed. But he doesn’t have to do any of that with Connor. He has every method of detective training already in his head. He has combat training, statistics, crime files, everything a cop needs to constantly be researching already there. He’s already a thousand times better than most cops Hank knows, and if he dies? Hey! He comes back all the same the next day. Hank at least would be owed a sick day if he died on the job. He’s the perfect partner.

He looks like a kid.

“Why do they give androids the ability to-” Hank falters and growl at himself, “ _express_ human emotion if they can’t feel it?”

“I told you detective,” Connor says slowly, “androids are designed to mimic human emotion to seamlessly work next to humans. The interface is specifically to put humans at ease-”

“No.” Hank waves him off. “I know that. I know why they would want to make androids smile and wave like good little robots. What I don’t understand is-” Hank searches for the words. “How can you cry?”

Connor opens his mouth to reply only to close it again. “Well, the actual process of ‘crying’ in androids is that the thirium is put through a process where the moisture is extracted from the other components, which sit as a solid in the androids system until the android can consume water to undo the process. The water is then sent to ducts below the eyes and leaks to simulate whatever emotion is needed.”

Hank stares at him blandly and Connor sheepishly rubs the back of his head. “I guess that wasn’t exactly what you meant.” 

Hank picks up his burger, unsettled more by Connor than Connor’s words. Again.

“If you want the answer I could search CyberLife’s databases for the reasoning behind crying?”

Hank wanted to ask why he didn’t just go ahead and do it instead of asking but Connor’s LED suddenly spins yellow and he’s being left alone to finish his burger so they can go hunt a defective machine.

***

Except the defective machine might be his partner.

“I thought you would do anything to accomplish your mission?”

Connor clenches his jaw and averts his eyes to look out the passenger window. “I will.”

Hank raises his eyebrow, pulling into his designated parking space outside the precinct. “Saving the life of an old fucker is going to help more than catching a deviant?”

“You wouldn’t have died.” Connor says quickly, as if to reassure him. “The chance of survival was eighty-nine percent. If I had chased after the deviant you would still most likely had survived.”

The corner of Hank’s mouth ticks up. “Exactly. So why didn’t you chase after the guy?”

“It.” Connor automatically corrects and then falls silent.

Awkwardness falls and for some reason Hank feels a bit guilty for putting the guy on the spot. “Connor-”

“There must be something in my programming.” Connor interrupts. “Obviously I must have lost this data when my memories were transfered over from the previous RK800 android.”

Hanks face falls at the reminder and he sneers, roughly shoving open the door of his shitty car and barking orders for Connor to follow him.

Connor obeys.


End file.
